Convince me
by silverkite
Summary: one word. or two. that's all it'll take. M/M


Disclaimer: not mine. just borrowing the chess pieces

Warning: M/M

Convince me

It was kind of funny, Theodore long thought, as Christian, captain charisma, smirked and put on a full show of disrespecting him, calling him out as though teddy had done him some grievous wrong. Of course, in the eyes of the universe, captain charisma was just being an asshole. Again.

"I'm goin to give both of you the honour of convincing me which team will be privileged to have me, captain charisma."

And as usual the crowd resorted to boos interlaced with cheers- they never really did manage to convince the entire world that Christian had gone dark side. Fans still hoped he'd turn face. And teddy, well, he was just playing along. He looked christian up and down, then rolled his eyes at him

Which of course, Christian pointed out with great behest. And as he went on and on, already teddy was running the script in his head, he knew lauraunitis would try to round Christian into his team, by sucking up to the blonde haired man of course, but ted was having none of that.

"I respect everything you've done in this ring, all your accomplishments- but I am not going to go down on my knees" teddy retorted, eyeing Christian with as much disdain as he could portray. Of course, Christian- no, beyond that, the man behind the mask, behind the persona, jason reso, his blue eyes sparkled at that- and teddy knew that no matter what he would say to wound christian's pride- Jason reso would still be smiling and grinning widely, this show, the peep show, it was his playground after all- and no matter what anyone did, Jason would remain a star. He was good on the mic- and his monicker suited him- scripts were nothing- he could improv with the best of them, more even- and he would get the crowd going in ways the creative department never could.

But then, ted always had something up his sleeve as well, and before Lauranitis could open his mouth to interrupt, teddy held up a finger to garner their attention- Christian glowered of course, and teddy understood why, this wasn't in the script afterall.

"but if you need any convincing at all, I have just one," teddy stated, grin broadening, he paused for the added effect

Christian huddled close, Jason reso was obviously intrigued by this new development- teddy long rarely did improvisations- and if he did, they were rather humorous. he spoke into his microphone, "and?"

"randy orton."

The name got the crowd in a frenzy, of course they knew about the rivalry- but theodore long, general manager of smackdown, knew better- what was beyond the rivalry- and was rewarded by rendering captain charisma speechless- standing there mic in his slack hold- apparently people seemed to forget that being the general manager of smackdown meant that teddy was pretty much omniscient about everything in his roster. and the best part was-

"is Christian blushing?" booker called

Of course, teddy wouldn't let anything slip by him, and while he admired his handiwork of working the world of wrestling into a chaos, he wasn't one to not tie up loose threads either and he spoke up before anyone else could react (apparently he'd stunned the whole announcer's table as well- even Lauranitis looked like a fish out of water and otunga's eyes seemed ready to pop out of his head)

"you've wanted a rematch? I'll give you a rematch with randy orton."

The save made Christian laugh in relief, and he masked it again easily, with another sour look at theodore long, "sorry but he's obviously not the champion now is he? Don't waste my time teddy."

But of course, teddy saw through the callous words and the trained smirk, christian- no- Jay could barely meet his eyes- and those blue orbs seemed to be perusing something over teddy's shoulder instead of looking directly into his eyes. So he had made a significant impact, he thought satisfactory as he let Christian demean him further and after letting Lauranitis' sweet talk go on for a minute or two- Christian finally announced that he was siding with the gruff voiced man.

And that was that, teddy walked out of the ring again, just as coolly as he'd walked in. And in the eyes of the universe, Christian remained a jerk, and Lauranitis remained the main villain. The innuendo he had subtly inserted, nearly caught on by booker- had simply slipped into the cracks of the human mind and teddy congratulated himself for a job well done.

"teddy! Wait!" he stopped and turned, saw Jason running up at him, eyes wide and face worried- he was always very expressive, teddy thought, as he folded his hands over his abdomen patiently. "can I help you, Jason?"

"I..." Jay swallowed, forced to calm his emotions. What ted had said in the ring- "in the ring-"

Teddy gave him a smile, "did you like it? I may not bring much in improvisation, but it'll get the crowd."

Jay blinked up at him in confusion, "what?"

Teddy remained grinning, "randy orton, your rivalry? Cmon Jason, get your head in the game"

Again, interestingly, jay's cheeks blushed. It may have been from the light- spotlights tended to get the boys in the roster all sweaty and flushed- especially if they weren't as tanned as most guys. "a-about that..."

"Jay!" they both turned to see randy orton stalking at them, already in wrestling gear. And something in his face told teddy long that the man was not happy.

"orton," ted nodded, while he was on a general first name basis with most of the roster, he had his reservations with the more volatile ones. And randy orton needed to be approached and treated like a loose nuclear warhead, "Jason and I are still talking so you will have to wait."

"what was that out there?" randy asked bluntly- another reason why orton should never be given a mic- the man was notoriously tactless and his words were like venom- and his improvisations had caused more backstage fights than scripted ones.

"what?" ted asked, frowning, he noticed Jay had gone absolutely silent.

"don't play stupid," randy snapped, stepping into teddy's personal space, "do you know something?"

"know what?" teddy noted with slight dismay that maybe he'd taken it a bit too far, as randy orton snarled and curled his hands into fists

"randy-" Jay warned, grabbing the man's arm before he could do anything that would jeopardise their careers, "it was nothing, just some creative improv" he tried to assure the other man but didn't really seem so sure himself, he glanced nervously at ted again who remained passively scrutinising them. "right ted?"

Ted nodded, "just a little improv to... Heat things up for the 'mania. You know that don't you, orton?"

Randy's eyes narrowed suspiciously at teddy but he nodded slowly nonetheless, relaxing his stance. "so... You don't really know anything?"

Teddy shrugged, "I know everything I need to know about my roster, I am the general manager after all- but I'm not God." he said lightly.

"you'd make one hell of a god though" Jay joked, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Ted flashed a polite smile. At least jason seemed placated by his offhandedness, randy orton on the other hand was so easily swayed. In fact he seemed to be scrutinising teddy even more.

"if there is anything, anything you need to tell me, just step into my office" teddy invited, deciding it was the best way to settle this. It was one thing setting orton lose against the other wrestlers, it was another thing to have to deal with the man in an office.

Randy eased slightly, still frowning thoughtfully, "alright."

Ted nodded again, "now if you excuse me boys, I have a company to run" and away he went, walking down to his office. And that should have been the end of it, except he had underestimated randy orton.

"hey teddy!" theodore frowned and turned to look back, randy grinned wildly at him and before teddy could ask him why- orton grabbed jay's dark shirt and yanked him close, drew the stunned man towards him and tilted his head back, engaging him into a deep kiss-

"orton! I will not have you molesting Mr. reso in my building!"

And randy set a bewildered and thoroughly kissed Jason reso down beside him, perfectly styled hair and clothes mussed and tousled- he looked very much ravaged in the short span that orton had him- and the viper flashed one haughty smirk, "That about sums it up."

Teddy shook his head at the man's innane antics, he would need to reevaluate randy orton's mic skills, "well then get a room, I don't want you traumatising anyone else!" and teddy shook his head, muttered several choice adjectives regarding orton and decided he needed to check his blood pressure.

So, convincing Jason reso to join his team wasn't really so hard, and didn't really involve begging. All he just had to say was the name of the man he obviously loved- and Jay would step into the light again.

But where was the fun in that? And theodore long, general manager of smackdown, sat in his office chair and smiled to himself, yep. It was good to be god. It was one thing to be able to reign in an entire roster of grown men half his age and twice his size and body mass, it was another to be able to manipulate specific persons of interest. He closed his eyes and leaned back, set his feet up his desk and took a satisfactory breath, he couldn't wait for wrestlemania.


End file.
